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All Harvard undergraduates are this year taking part in a pioneering course on sleep before they arrive on campus in a bid to combat the growing macho culture of studying through caffeine-fuelled "all-nighters."

Charles Czeisler, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School and a specialist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, designed the course, which he believes is the first of its kind in the US.

Despite being academically gifted, he found students at the world's number one university are often clueless when it comes to the very basics about how to look after themselves.